Media in Contemporary Russia
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Media in Contemporary Russia http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/transcripts/0365.html/:pf_print... Media in Contemporary Russia Nargiz Asadova , Vladislav Aleksandrovich Fronin , Pavel Nikolaevich Gusev , Mikhail Gusman , Mikhail Kotov , Azer Mursaliev , Mikhail Ponomarev , David C. Speedie Tuesday, March 1, 2011 The U.S. Global Engagement program gratefully acknowledges the support for its work from the following: Alfred and Jane Ross Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Donald M. Kendall, Rockefeller Family & Associates, Booz & Company, and the U.S. Army War College. Introduction Remarks Questions and Answers Introduction DAVID SPEEDIE: I'm David Speedie, and our event today is "The Venice Biennale, Russia, AES+F, Media Shower, Carl Media in Contemporary Russia." Welcome to the Carnegie Council. Guderian Russia, as some of you know, is very much a focus of the U.S. Global Engagement Program, which I direct here at the Council. We're particularly grateful to the Alfred and Jane Ross Foundation—Alfred Ross is expected to join us—for the support of our work in Russia. It's an unusual program in that we have ten senior figures from the Russian media here at the Council for this one particular event. They are members of a delegation that's part of a bilateral presidential commission set up by presidents Medvedev and Obama . It's important to remember that the dialogue and the relationship is more than just arms control and START [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties]; there are other civil society elements to this relationship that are embodied in the gentlemen you see on this podium. I'd like to also thank Consul General Yushmanov and Vice Consul Andrey Rogozin for helping us organize this event. I now want to hand the microphone over to Mr. Mikhail Shvydkoy, who is a special representative in the Russian Federation's Office of the President for International Cultural Cooperation. Mr. Shvydkoy will introduce the speakers. The forum is that they will each speak, with interpretation, for about ten minutes, and that will give us time for the proverbial questions and answers period. Mr. Shvydkoy, welcome and thank you, sir. Remarks MIKHAIL SHVYDKOY: Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you to our host for this really unusual event. We are very glad to be here this morning, because for us it is not so early in Moscow; it is about 6:00 PM. Thank you for coming, because for you it is a little bit much more complicated to be with us this morning. I am special envoy for President Medvedev for International Cultural Cooperation, and at the same time co-chairman of the Working Group for Culture, Media, Sports, News, Education, blah, blah, blah, as an exchange between the United States and Russia. My absolutely unique partner is the Under-Secretary of 1 of 9 4/5/2011 3:03 PM Media in Contemporary Russia http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/transcripts/0365.html/:pf_print... State Mrs. Judith McHale , who we will meet tomorrow for the meeting of the working groups. Here in this space, we present the real elite of the Russian press and media, these four gentlemen sitting down at this table. But in this room, there are also some people who are really influential for communicating in Russia, and who create the civil society in Russia. This is very important. We present here a variety of media from our country. Mr. Vladislav Fronin is editor-in-chief of the main Russian governmental newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta . Pavel Gusev is the first pioneer of the private press in Russia. He is editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets , a newspaper with more than a million and a half copies per day. He is a very influential figure in Russian civil society because he is chairman of the Commission of Civil Chamber for Media. The Civil Chamber is the most powerful NGO in Russia, which aims to make a permanent discussion with the governmental vision of the press and media in our country. Mr. Gusman is the director general of the former TASS, and now ITAR-TASS , the Russian information agency. At the same time, he is a TV star and his program is very popular because he interviews top politicians in the world. Four times he has interviewed presidents of the United States. The presidents change, but he has stayed as the host of the program. Mr. Ponomarev, the youngest of this team, is a very famous TV star too. He is editor-in-chief of information programs of our Moscow Television Network. In this room, Mr. Azer Mursaliev is editor-in-chief of the Kommersant Publishing House, which was the first private publishing house in Russia. They started more than 20 years ago. They print not just newspapers but magazines, and are on the Internet, et cetera. Mr. Mikhail Kotov is editor-in-chief of Gazeta.ru , the most influential Internet publisher in Russia. I said "Internet publishing," which is some kind of contradiction. But I am an old man. It's possible. And with us is Mrs. Nargiz Asadova. She will present the government opposition, Echo Moskvy of Moscow. She is editor-in-chief of this radio station, and at the same time she is a very famous journalist in Russia too. I hope they will say what they want, because we live in an absolutely free country in a free time. It will be interesting. We will listen to your questions, and we will try to answer all of them. Thank you again, and enjoy. MIKHAIL GUSMAN: Mr. Gusev is our boss at this table because he is also the president of the Society of Moscow Journalists. It's a very big non-profit organization. We all pay small fees to his organization each month, about 5 rubles. He is not only editor-in-chief, but he is also an owner of the very popular Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets . This newspaper also publishes here in the United States with the name Novom Svete . Maybe you can buy it, if you want, just across the street. Pavel Gusev will start. PAVEL GUSEV [translated]: Dear ladies and gentlemen, I will be speaking in Russian. My English is not perfect. When speaking about the Russian mass media, I should say that it is very different in its essence. Russian mass media is living through a stage of rebirth. There are about 70,000 different print media names in Russia which are issued today. Of course, high intensity is seen in the growth and immense force of different Internet media, as well as cable television which is also gaining force. Russia is the largest geographic country in the world, which leads to great difficulties in communication. Today, we still have some territories where there is no TV coverage, for instance, to say nothing about the Internet, which definitely benefits only the central part of Russia, more or less. Today the Russian mass media is versatile. Nobody has ever banned freedom of speech in Russia. But in 2 of 9 4/5/2011 3:03 PM Media in Contemporary Russia http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/transcripts/0365.html/:pf_print... one way or another, 70 percent of the print media belongs to the state. Why does thi s happen? The reason is that the advertising market in Russia is so far, very weak. President Medvedev has recently stated that all state-owned mass media should go private. Of course, this cannot happen overnight. If, for instance, tomorrow we let 70 percent of the media which is in one way or another owned by the state go to the free market, 68 percent of those will simply die because they will have no financing to exist. On the one hand, we admit that in the regions the authorities have a very great influence on the mass media. But, on the other hand, we have to admit that it would be impossible to move away from this control within a very short time. Everybody admits that one of the most liberal and democratic laws which exists in contemporary Russia is the one which was adopted back in 1991, during the first year of the new Russia after the Soviet Union, and that is the Law on the Mass Media . The reason that there is no ban on freedom of speech in Russia, is that, according to the Mass Media Act, freedom of speech does exist. So why do democratic organizations criticize the mass media in Russia for not being free? The reason is that due to a number of preconditions, mass media does have some influence from the state. However, I should provide you with some other information. Over the past year there have been about 70 different amendments submitted to the law on mass media. Each of those amendments would definitely kill this law. But they were not adopted. They did not enter into force. The reason for that is the public expertise, the discussion on the public level, in which I participated actively myself—due to this evaluation and the estimation by the public, those amendments were not adopted. This is a grand achievement where public organizations have attained contacts with the authorities. Having said this, I am prepared to take your questions and leave my colleagues an opportunity to speak too. MIKHAIL GUSMAN: We'll continue. You have four minutes. VLADISLAV FRONIN [translated]: When introducing me, Mikhail said that I am editor-in-chief of the governmental newspaper. But I am telling you that I am not responsible for the government. I am only editor-in-chief of the newspaper. Some 20 years ago, I don't think one would imagine even in the most dreadful dreams that the representative or editor-in-chief of the governmental newspaper would sit here on the podium; however, the opposition's newspaper would be seated somewhere in the corner.